The Cuerdale hoard

Found at Cuerdale, Lancashire, England
Viking, buried between about AD 905–910

The largest Viking silver hoard known from
western Europe

This enormous silver treasure was discovered by workmen
repairing the bank of the River Ribble in 1840. Records from the
time describe how one workman’s spade hit loose coins, spilling
them into his wheelbarrow. He and his companions began to fill
their pockets, only to empty them again at the order of the bailiff
– but they were allowed to keep one piece each. The hoard was taken
to Cuerdale Hall, where it was said to cover a sitting-room
floor.

The Cuerdale Hoard consists of over 8500 silver objects,
weighing some 40kg in total. Most of the pieces are coins, together
with ingots (silver bars) and cut-up brooches, chains, rings and
other ornaments (hacksilver). It had been buried in a lead
container. Five bone pins said to have been found with the treasure
suggest that some of it was parcelled up in cloth bags.

Most of the hoard’s coins were minted in Viking-controlled
England, while the hacksilver is mainly Irish or Irish-Viking in
form and decoration. Other pieces originated from further afield –
Scotland, the Continent, Scandinavia, the Baltic Sea region and the
Islamic lands of Central Asia and the Middle East. In this way, the
Cuerdale Hoard reflects the Vikings’ extensive international
connections across much of the known world.

A hoard of this size represents extraordinary wealth – probably
of many persons rather than one individual. It is likely to have
been collected over time as loot, tribute and through trade. The
reasons for the Cuerdale Hoard’s burial are not known. It may have
been hidden for safe-keeping at a time of unrest, or represents a
secure method of stock-piling riches over time.

The latest coins in the hoard enable us to date its burial to
between about AD 905 and 910. This, together with the Irish origin
of most of the hacksilver, has fuelled speculation that the hoard
belonged to Vikings who were expelled from Dublin in AD 902. The
River Ribble, where the hoard was found, lay directly across the
Irish Sea from Dublin, offering a convenient place for fleeing
Vikings to regroup. It was also on an overland route to York – the
powerbase of the Northumbrian Vikings who could be called upon for
support. But while this explanation for the Cuerdale Hoard is
enticing, it remains unproven.

J. Graham-Campbell (ed.), Viking treasure from the North, Selected papers from The Vikings of the Irish Sea conference, Liverpool, 18–20 May 1990 (Liverpool, National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, 1992)